Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Great Tip Tuesday

How do you separate work, from home and family???
(Thomas honey? READ THIS PLEASE!!)
  • Change your route: What I mean by this is literally "change your route home". If you have a bad or overly stressful day at work, take the long way home. During the first half of your journey home, turn the radio off and think about what you have to accomplish at work and how you will execute. During the second half of the drive, turn on whatever music you like, talk radio, (whatever) and begin the process of thinking about things outside of work. Do not think about work during the entire commute, you must separate before you get home!
  • The boss at work does not equal the boss at home: Just because you are an important guy at work doesn't mean that you get to make demands at home. You have to remember that the people you live with are not paid to take your BS. If you love them, you will treat them better than those that report to you. On the flip side of this, your being an entry-level employee at work doesn't mean that at home you can get the "power trip" your ego begs for.
  • Vent: Venting is the art of blowing your lid and we all do it. Once you get home after work and kiss the kids, give yourself a 15-minute window to let it out. You should set this up in advance with your spouse but leave the time limit at 15 minutes. During that time, they have to simply listen and let you get it out. After that, you must agree that work is over.
  • Blackberry/Laptop: Occasionally we all have to work at night or on the weekends. The key here is to set an expectation when honestly important projects arise. If you really don't need to work, keep the electronics off. Don't login just because you are curious. As we all know you will find reasons to email people or start completing tasks.
  • Questions first: When you get home, immediately ask how your spouse's day went (AND LISTEN). Many times their response is enough to get you to think of family tasks and break you away from work. In addition, you will probably earn some points for engaging them in the conversation. Remember, it's human nature to want to talk about yourself so resist the urge.
  • Survival: Whether you believe it or not, your company will survive without you. It is key to remember this as you choose where to spend time. If it is after hours and you haven't turned off the blackberry, you have to resist the urge to get involved in something that isn't really ultra-critical.
  • No work, no matter what: This is a tough one but at my house we practice it like a religion. On Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5-10 PM I have sworn not to do work. These nights and times actually have a place in my calendar and I have told co-workers that I am absolutely unavailable no matter what. If I were a CEO making 10 trillion per year perhaps this would change but I am not so...I'm booked.
  • 25% Rule: When I plan my days, I leave a minimum of 25% of the time open. This time is used for emergencies, task lists, etc. It is during that time that I accomplish smaller tasks that I would have reserved for off-hours.
  • Get up earlier: Don't be a crybaby about this one. If may sting in the beginning but if you are constantly running out of time, take time from you and not your family. As your family sleeps, you can easily get some stuff done by heading to the office early.

These are things I do and they are tough at times because there are constantly urgent issues arising at work. The key for me was learning how to delegate and say no when I had to. Again, it's not easy but with some will, you can do it.

_______________________________

Written by Jay at Dumb Little Man

18 comments:

Unknown said...

I need to show my honey a few of these lol. Hey--I'm trying to get a Tuesday's Tips meme started at my blog and I'd love it if you would link up and maybe help me get the word out...please? lol. If not--that's OK too! I'm still going to show hubby these...especially about changing your route.

Stephanie Faris said...

What great tips!!! We only have my boyfriend's daughter every other weekend so the rest of the time, it's just us. If my boyfriend is busy working on something, I just use that time to write. We'll even sit on the sofa together, him on his laptop and me writing in a notepad.

Heather @ Simple Wives said...

I agree with you on that first one for sure!!! I try to change my routes up to create a little variety in my life, lol. ;-)

Brooke said...

ooh, the hubs needs to read this. cause i woke up at 3AM and he hadn't came to bed yet. i would love it if he went to bed earlier and got up earlier.

Heatherlyn said...

My husband sometimes has to work from home. Not always, but sometimes a little and sometimes a lot. I would much much rather have him working at home than at the office and I'm grateful that he can work from home for most aspects of his job. Otherwise he'd be gone a LOT. I just like being near him. I can often find something to work on in the same room or he'll move to whatever room I'm in.

But, my husband doesn't like working all the time. He prefers to NOT work. So when he does have to work I know he really has to. This makes a difference for me.

I think this is an important topic. Great post!

Deanna said...

These are some great tips. It was so much easier to leave work at work before the world shrunk in size thanks to the internet.

Kristina P. said...

These are such great tips!

Kathy B! said...

I'm posting this on the fridge!

Unknown said...

No if only the army would co operate with these notions as well. Chris has training all weekend!

Mary said...

Some very good points!! And that 15 min vent is vital to mine, and my husbands survival :o)

Mrs. M said...

Thanks for sharing this, now I will share with my hubby. :-)

LadyStyx said...

A few real good ones in there that I hadn't thought of. Thanks.

CB said...

I have to especially concur with the getting up early one. That is the hardest for me but the one that allows things to actually get done!
Great post!

Vickie said...

Good tips! I really should follow the getting up early one. Of course if I did that one...I need to go to bed earlier. As you know, sometimes I am up til 2 in the morning:)

Liz Mays said...

Those are very good tips! My husband used to bring work home and he'd be calling and checking on things all the time no matter where we were. He learned to stop that finally!

Alicia said...

great tips!!! luckily for me the hubs can't bring work home!!

Grand Pooba said...

I should try that "change your route" idea. Now that I work 8 to 5, the rush hour traffic seriously makes me more tense and doesn't really help relieve the stress from work!

Janelle said...

These are all great tips, thanks for sharing! Wakign up early totally makes a difference.